Non-profit

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Innovation? Australian charities appear to have a long way to go

Innovation IndexThe 2016 GiveEasy Innovation Index has been released. Reviewing the Innovation Index, it is striking how far Australian charities have to go in terms of innovation. Jeremy Tobias, CEO of GiveEasy, does report there are some “promising signs”. Further, the Innovation Index shows a correlation between innovation and growing budgets. Tobias suggests this mirrors our for-profit counterparts (and other similar studies in the corporate sector) where innovation leads to greater share price and revenue growth.

The Innovation Index illustrates a non profit sector, which “remains largely middle of the road” when it comes to innovation performance. Just 37%, according to the study, of respondents have an agreed innovation strategy or innovation focus in their non profit organisation. GiveEasy suggests “this implies fairly low levels of committed, structured internal resources for innovation”.

Not all bad news, GiveEasy reports some signs of improvement in some key areas: those who are actively pursuing innovation do score higher and are more likely to have increasing budgets; funding and grants are more likely to be awarded to more innovative non profits. Additionally, the study had a greater number of participants this year than in the past.

Perhaps your organisation ticks one of these boxes?

  • Lack of money to innovate.
  • Lack of time to dedicate to thinking outside the box.
  • Burdened by government reporting and compliance.
  • Lack digital capabilities in house.
  • Do not use social media or other online sources of marketing and fundraising.
  • Experience low levels of support for innovation.

If so, you appear to not be alone. GiveEasy suggests a dedicated, collaborative effort is required from sector stakeholders if we want a flourishing NFP secret that can meet the evolving demands of the digital area. The Innovation Index offers seven capabilities which need to be embraced and implemented. Download a copy of the GiveEasy Innovation Index today. Learn from it. Study it. Begin planning your innovation strategy now.

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Non-profits should get on with it – make the ask

Replay mail

Which charities acquire the most donors, the most gifts, and the largest donations? The ones who make an ask.

I’m not talking about asking for gifts of $100,000+. You and I know it takes a while to make a major ask. You and your organisation must have a solid relationship with the prospective donor and the timing has to be right for the donor. After all, this is the donor’s schedule and not yours or your organsiation’s schedule. This can take 18+ months.

I am speaking about asks which typically happen via direct mail, telemarketing, and online channels.

It puzzles me the number of charity pieces which are sent to donors and prospective donors and where the ask is either buried in the piece or there is no ask at all. Why bother to produce the piece? Even worse are the pieces which are sent containing a response envelope with no call to action.

A few simple steps will boost your charity’s bottom line:

  • Ensure there is an ask in every marketing piece.
  • Don’t make it a mystery for donors to figure out how to make a gift.
  • Make the ask prominent.
  • Make the ask multiple times throughout the marketing piece.
  • Offer the prospective donor multiple channels to make their gift.
  • Don’t make it difficult for the donor to make their gift by requiring them to cut panels out of newsletters and to complete other art projects.

I often times say Australian charities do not ask for donations enough throughout the course of a financial year. It’s true. I back it up by saying I am a “pushy American” making that statement. But, push the envelope. Donors will tell you when they have had enough and inform you of their communication preferences accordingly.

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CRM – an expense or an investment?

Business Customer CRM Management Analysis Service Concept

Non profit organisations struggle financially. It seems there is never enough cash on hand to build the necessary infrastructure and to be an innovative organisation.  Maybe there is and maybe we need to think about things a little differently?

Rather than look at things, like your customer relationship management (CRM) system, as a major expense or a transaction, why not look at it as an investment no different than hiring a new major gift officer or a new direct marketing supplier. Those types of investments have income benefits and your CRM has income benefits tied to it.

How so?

  • Any improvement in business efficiencies improves the income line.
    • Think through and document all areas where your CRM will improve business processes, which are currently manual or redundant in nature.
  • The saving of time allows your staff to spend that time on other income generating measures.
    • Study and document all areas where time is wasted across your organisation due to process efficiencies, multiple spreadsheets and other factors.
  • Communicating with stakeholders in a more effective means will build on those relationships. Doing the opposite causes missed opportunity and income loss for your organisation.
    • Analyse and document the various ways comms with stakeholders will improve and project potential income growth.

Your CRM is likely the single largest expense investment your charity will make. The next time someone turns the acquisition of something like a CRM into simply an expense, change their mind around by putting together a business case to show the cost savings and income generation of such tools. It’s a different conversation.

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Ensuring your CRM supplier knows their business is a non-negotiable

Teamwork Team Together Collaboration Diversity People Friends Concept

FundraisingForce works with many nonprofit organisations throughout the year to implement new CRM solutions. One of the things which make or break a CRM implementation is the level of expertise of the staff of your CRM supplier. FundraisingForce call this their bench strength.

Why is CRM staff expertise so critical?

The fact is the product might be amongst the most effective solutions in the market. If the bench strength is weak, your implementation of the solution will be sub-par. Before you purchase any CRM, understand the following:

  • What is make up of the parent company leadership?
    • The make up of the leadership will often times speak volumes about the line staff.
  • What is the financial strength of the parent company?
    • By acquiring the new product, you are entering into a 7-10 year relationship. You want to ensure the parent company will be around for the long-term relationship.
  • Who are the staff who will be assigned to your project?
    • Meet the staff before you agree to the relationship.
  • What is the background of each staff person?
    • How well do they know the nonprofit industry?
      • You likely do not want your organisation to be the nonprofit training ground for the team.
    • How well do the staff know the product they are implementing?
      • While not everyone will have a PhD in the product, you certainly do not want to be product training ground for the team. Ensure someone on the team has at least one year of experience implementing the CRM
    • Understand the succession plan should someone from the team leave the organisation.
      • What transitioning will be done should someone leave the team?
        • There is a high level of turnover on these teams – nearly as much as nonprofit organisations face. Understand the transition plan should someone exit the stage.
      • What sort of on-boarding processes exist?
        • While there are no guarantees your nonprofit will still have the same team across the project, you will want to understand what processes are in place should a transition occur. This on-boarding process should be in place at your organisation and at the CRM parent organisation.

Purchasing a new CRM is the single largest investment for most nonprofit organisations. You are not only purchasing product, but you are purchasing the expertise of the consultants who will implement the CRM. The product part of the decision is 65% of the decision while the consultant aspect is 35%. Organisations spend 90-100% of the time studying product functionality and 0-10% of the time focused on the expertise on the bench. This split needs to closer match the product/consultancy ratio. Spend 35% of the search time studying and interviewing the staff. This will be time well invested.

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Qantas asked me to complete my transaction

Snip20160228_3On Sunday I booked a last minute trip on Qantas. I did not complete the reservation and went to other airline sites to shop around for a better deal. Moments after I closed out of the Qantas website, Qantas sent me an email asking me to complete the transaction.

Why did I think this was so interesting? What can nonprofit organisations learn from this experience?

Clearly one has to be logged into a Website in order for the site owner to send a reminder similar to the one I received by Qantas. Yet, Qantas is taking the added step to ask me to purchase the airline ticket rather than lose me to another air carrier. There are plenty of charity sites where the donor may be logged in and where this functionality could be repeated for donors who do not finish the donation transaction. It is clever for Qantas or, in your case, your nonprofit organisation to put the transaction on hold and to send a reminder to the person to complete the transaction.

I wonder what Qantas’ rate of recovery is for such transactions? I also wonder if any nonprofit organisations are using similar technology to recapture donations which would otherwise be lost?

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Nonprofit technology transitions face many risks

Risks exist in every project and may be managed through a coordinated effort. Nonprofit CRM projects are no exception and can contain a multitude of risks. Mitigating risks is paramount as part of any CRM project. I recently was asked to surface the top reasons Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) project fail. I came up with hundreds of reasons, but I narrowed them to a list of 10 “theme” areas.

Investing in a new CRM solution is exactly that – a large investment of funding and of time. It may be the single largest investment for a non profit organisation. Imagine investing a lot of money and energy into a CRM project and the outcome is not what you had hoped to achieve. Or, imagine the project fails. It’s a terrible shame when CRM projects go off the rail. And, they do not need to. Solid management on the part of the charitable organisation and the supplier ensures a successful outcome.

Why do CRM projects fail?

  1. Purchasing the new toy. Implementing technology for the sake of something new. People within your organisation may believe your non profit organisation has to have brand name solution X because it is the newest technology or because the CRM parent company has a convincing and aggressive marketing campaign.
    • Big deal. You did not buy an iPad the minute the device hit the market, right? Instead you took time to understand the product and to let others test the product before you adopted it. Do the same with any CRM solution and the associated supplier.
  2. Senior level engagement team members are not engaged.
    • Project sponsors are critical to any CRM project. Project sponsors are the project “owners” and ought to sit at the highest level of your organisational hierarchy. These should be the individuals who control the purse strings and the strategic direction of the organisation. Project sponsors are not project managers. They are part of the steering committee, are well informed, and have oversight at the 36,000 foot level.
  3. Timing is everything. Is your non profit ready for a new CRM? Is this the right time to change something as large as the CRM? Is the entire organisation ready to make a change.
    • Change management is not only about bringing people from point A to point Z, but it is also about understanding whether your organisation has an appetite for change at the outside of the project.
  4. A lack of strategic direction.
    • Ensure you agree on the strategic goals for the CRM. For example, is your mandate to find a CRM to fit the entire organisation or simply the fundraising department?
  5. Business understanding. Understanding your business and the requirements of your departments begins well before the implementation of any CRM.
    • Requirements gathering start well before deciding the “right” solution for the charity. In fact, requirements gathering happen at step one. Always understand your business before even going out to market to examine solutions to fit. I call this the homework stage. Do your homework and you will pass the exam. Learning requirements after signing to purchase a CRM or during the implementation is too late.
  6. Organisation-wide means organisation wide.
    • There are plenty of CRM solutions in the market focusing on fundraising operations. There are not many with an organisation-wide focus. Sure, you can create workarounds and try to put a square peg in a round hole. But, you want to find a solution, which may be used by your services arm just as easy as it may be used by fundraising. Creating one source of truth, organisation-wide, ought to be a goal at the outset.
  7. Lack of process change.
    • Documenting your AS IS business processes at the outset becomes a necessary exercise for your orgnaisation and for any supplier to ensure you understand how business occurs in your existing CRM and so you understand the potential for change. Thereafter, keeping an eye on the AS IS processes, or the origination, helps you understand the TO BE state, or the destination.
  8. Budgeting for human capital. Do you have the right people in the right positions budgeted for the right amount of time for the course of the project?
    • You likely need to supplement existing staff so you may continue business as usual and accomplish the CRM project at the same time. Plan for staff absences, staff departures, and other issues to come along the way. This is a long project and things happen over the course of 6-12+ months.
  9. Product does not meet requirements.
    • No product is perfect, even though a supplier’s sales team might lead you to believe their product could power the next space shuttle. Hopefully you performed due diligence in searching for a product and you are entering the relationship knowing the products benefits and deficiencies. Why didn’t you know this before you got married to the supplier? Think of this as dating. We date people for a reason – to get to know them and to determine if they are the “right fit”. If we marry the person, we know their strengths and weaknesses prior to marriage (and they know ours!). Likewise, you should know the supplier’s gaps and the product’s gaps prior to signing any agreement. There will be surprises, which surface in the implementation. Lessen the surprises by doing your homework in advance.
  10. Scope creep/waste. There is a risk when no one is keeping an eye on the finances.
    • Your supplier will likely have a bank of hours to spend on the project. You need a project manager who will monitor the spend and ensure your dollars are spent on the tasks which matter most and which gain you the outcome you desire.

Keeping your eye on this top list and others will ensure you have a successful outcome with your CRM project. These are your responsibility, not the responsibility of the suppliers in the market. As non profit managers we should own them.

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Lack of joyful wishes from charities this season

Snip20151222_99It’s the holiday season – a time of year of well wishes and surprises. As a donor to hundreds of Australian non profit organisations, I am most surprised by the lack of well wishes from charities this year.

I have received plenty of requests for support via Christmas since September. However, to date, I have received a total of three greetings or wishes from – one from charitable organisation and two from professional organisations.

The Sydney Opera House is the only non profit organisation to take the time to send Christmas greetings. The greeting, via Email, was multi-purpose, including: offering joyful wishes of the holiday season, as well as a calendar of upcoming events, and the opportunity to take in all the Opera House offers.

The other two greetings received were from professional organisations, including CFRE International and Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA).

As we rush out of the office to commence our Christmas and New Year’s breaks, it takes nothing more than a few minutes to craft an email and include a holiday graphic to let donors, volunteers, and others know you appreciate their support and to remind them there is ample opportunity to give one last gift before year end.

Charities tend to spend a significant time planning and analysing appeals. Why not take a bit of time to express appreciation and to wish your donors well in the New Year?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from FundraisingForce.

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Handwritten envelope? Sort of…

You may recall, I have written about hand written envelopes prior and their ability to capture a donor’s attention amongst a mountain of mail in our letterboxes.

BHA Envelope 2Bush Heritage Australia nearly got there last week with this interesting piece.

I received an appeal from Bush Heritage Australia and the carrier had an interesting font, which is unusual and particularly stood out amongst the charity mail received last week.

Hand written envelopes (not actually hand written at all, but machine produced in a hand written font of the non-profit’s choice) are rare. The fact is we receive hand written Christmas cards (becoming rarer these days), birthday cards, and perhaps the occasional thank you note.

But, how many charities send hand written devices to stand out amongst their peers?

Remember non-profit organisation shave three challenges with direct mail:

  1. Getting the piece delivered to the correct party at the correct address.
  2. Getting the piece opened.
  3. Getting the piece responded to.

To achieve #1, you have to practice good data hygiene. To get to #2 and #3 you must produce a captivating piece, which will not end up in the recycling bin. I am not suggesting your organisation will employ hand written as a strategy for every appeal. But, testing it for one appeal next year would be prudent.

Your suppliers likely have the tools, in house, to produce hand written pieces.

Bush Heritage Australia produces outstanding pieces of direct mail. Last week was an example of how Bush Heritage Australia stands out often in my letterbox. How will your non-profit organisation stand out in letterboxes in the new year?

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Best practice use of bar coding and scanning

Does your non-profit organisation use bar coding to scan response devices for the tax or Christmas appeals?

I give to hundreds of charities a year – partly for the FundraisingForce mystery shopping study and others for personal reasons. Very few of the organisations supported through the mystery shopping study or on my own use bar codes on response devices.

Endeavour Foundation utilise bar coding on their lottery mailings.

Bar CodeBar codes are generated by the organisation’s CRM and often times contain components the organisation wishes to track, including supporter number, campaign, designation, appeal, segment, package and other important metrics. Some organisations use bar codes for ease of data entry for acquisition campaigns. In this case, the CRM recognises who the person is, and the associated workflow creates a new supporter record in the CRM, and records the other components at the same time. Imagine the time savings for your supporter services team. Time which can be spent ensuring the donor receives a receipt within the required 48 hour time frame and time which can be spent on other matters.

Your non-profit organisation may already have the tools to create the bar code and a CRM which will consume the bar code. A little time invested in establishing the workflows in your CRM to manage the process described may pay multiple dividends in the long run. This time of year, time is money. Actioning this process will be a nice year-end gift to your supporter services team and…to your donors.

 

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Charity plans for #GivingTuesday

Snip20141108_1What is your non-profit organisation planning for #GivingTuesday?

#GivingTuesday occurs in just 39 days – on 1 December 2015.

If you have not already jumped on board, it is not too late. And, if you have decided to participate in Giving Tuesday, it is time to create a concise plan of activities for that date.

#GivingTuesday is one day when Australian businesses, non-profit organisation, community groups, families and individuals come to together to celebrate a day of giving and to kick off the Christmas season.

This effort harnesses the collective power of a unique blend of partners to transform how people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. #GivingTuesday will inspire people to take collaborative action to improve their local communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they celebrate and help create a better world. #GivingTuesday will harness the power of social media to create a global moment that is dedicated to giving around the world.

Are you a supplier to the Australian charitable sector or do you work for an Australian charity and want to know how to get involved in #GivingTuesday? Do not let another day go by – sign up today and become part of this global campaign to encourage philanthropy across the sector.

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